If the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, it would mark the culmination of Republicans’ yearslong battle, spanning the courts and state legislatures, to make it all but impossible to get an abortion in many parts of the country.

The elephants in GOP room.

Though the party might currently be splintered along pro-Trump and more traditional establishment lines in some 2022 races, Republicans have a common goal in rolling back abortion rights and appear close to achieving it. Trump, the GOP establishment, grassroots activists, and the Federalist Society — the right-wing legal organization that has pushed for more conservative judges and justices — will all get credit.

“This is a moment of unity,” Steinhauser said. “People will be celebrating and people will be congratulating each other.”

For Trump, the decision also helps cement his conservative bona fides as he gears up for a 2024 presidential run.

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/policy-and-politics/23055764/roe-wade-supreme-court-republicans-midterms

You better have a plan.

May 6, 2022

Are the Democrats planning a conflict with Russia before November’s shellacking?

By Rajan Laad

President Eisenhower, in his final address to the nation, uttered words that will remain relevant for ages.

The following is a key excerpt from that speech:

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.

The military-industrial complex that Eisenhower was referring to is the nefarious alliance among governments, arms manufacturers, arms dealers, and mercenaries.

This is a coalition that profiteers from wars and hence uses its powers to compel governments to enter optional conflicts.  The fact that lives of civilians and armed personnel are lost and trillions of taxpayer dollars are wasted hardly matters to them.

The arms dealer or defense contractor donates to the politician and perhaps promises them lucrative jobs after their retirement from politics.

The politician actively campaigns for wars by penning articles in «reputed newspapers» or perhaps making appearances on TV or a speech in the Senate or the House.

Carrying on with this tradition, Joe Biden visited the Lockheed Martin factory in Alabama.

«You’re allowing the Ukrainians to defend themselves and they’re making fools of the Russian military in many instances.  Every worker in this facility and every American taxpayer is directly contributing to the case for freedom,» Biden told the workers.

The Sandals for Standing All Day Without DiscomfortSursell

Biden recently asked Congress for an additional $33 billion to help Ukraine fight Russia’s invasion. Last month, Congress approved $13.6 billion in «assistance» to Ukraine.Recently, an official congressional delegation led by House speaker Nancy Pelosi made an unannounced trip to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Pelosi was joined by several senior House Democrats such as Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York, who chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs; Adam Schiff of California, the chairman of the House Intelligence panel; Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, who leads the House Rules Committee; Bill Keating of Massachusetts; Barbara Lee of California; and Jason Crow of Colorado.Pelosi conveyed to President Zelensky «a message of appreciation from the American people for his leadership and admiration to the people of Ukraine for their courage.»There is a lot to unpack here.We begin with the «aid» money. There is no transparency on how the initial $13.6 billion was spent. There will be no transparency on where the additional $33 billion will be spent. The record of both the Biden administration and Ukrainian officials on transparency and honesty isn’t exactly stellar.

Let’s focus on Lockheed Martin, which is just one among the many arms dealers.Lockheed has placed details of the donations made to both parties on its website. The list is merely the official donations. There are myriad other innovative ways that «donations» can be made without being detected. It could be speaking assignments or book deals or lucrative employment for offspring.Lockheed also has a record of bribing foreign officials, to facilitate the sale of their products.Biden’s visit to Lockheed as president is a blatant act of favoritism in addition to misuse of his office. It will be worth investigating how many of the Bidens hold stocks of Lockheed or if any among the Bidens has other ties with the firm.The media also have been co-opted. Early this January, Politico carried articles that were promoting an armed conflict over Ukraine. Initial versions of these articles had the caption «Presented by Lockheed Martin,» beneath the author’s name. Those captions have been removed now and but the web advert of Lockheed still remains next to the article.The Washington Post and the New York Times also carry articles sponsored by Lockheed. While the sponsored content is labeled, it does present an obvious conflict of interest. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that part of the deal of this sponsorship is the paper will carry pieces making case for war. Most mainstream TV news channels conduct panel discussions based on articles from these papers.Lockheed also has had deep ties with the CIA since the 1950s.

Thus, both the media and politicians are in control of Lockheed and perhaps myriad other arms dealers. All they have to do is pull the strings, and puppets peddle paranoia and propaganda for war.What about the situation on the ground in Ukraine?Amid the devastation and destruction, Ukrainian officials claim that nearly 20,000 foreign volunteers have signed up to fight alongside Ukrainian forces against the Russian invasion. The chaos in that region means that most of these mercenaries are not vetted.

What happens when the sophisticated weaponry that Biden dispatched to Ukraine ends up in the hands of the mercenaries?

—- What if some of the mercenaries are linked to terrorist groups that intend to use the weaponry to harm the U.S. and its allies? What if some of these «fighters» pilfer and sell the advanced weaponry on the black market?This isn’t the first time Biden has been reckless with weaponry. When Biden hastily withdrew from Afghanistan, it was said that the U.S. left behind more than $82.9 billion’s worth of weapons and equipment. Biden officials recently directed federal agencies to scrub their websites of official reports detailing the military equipment and training provided to the Afghan security forces since 2001.Thus, by sending aid including advanced weaponry worth billions, Biden is not only wasting taxpayer funds, but endangering lives by potentially arming dangerous foreign agents.

— Biden is also placing the U.S. in peril by running the risk of entering an armed conflict with a nuclear-powered Russia.

—- The U.S. currently is going through myriad crises owing to Biden’s reckless misgovernance.Inflation is at a 39-year high, and the supply chain crisis is causing a shortage of basic commodities. The crime wave has placed many U.S. cities in danger, and the open borders are causing an influx of illegal aliens. COVID-19 could also raise its ugly head again.But Washington Democrats seem to have no interest in fixing these issues and are not even perfunctorily mentioning them during speeches.

The Democrats know that they are going to lose both the House and the Senate during the midterms.

They will hence use the time between now and January 2023 not only to satisfy their own interests and those of their big donors, but also to wreak havoc that will end up at the doorstep of the GOP.Upon losing the midterm elections, they could claim electoral malpractice or voter suppression or that the MAGA wing is a terrorist group and reject the results. They will then activate their activist cell to create chaos. We are seeing a teaser of that with «protests» against the Supreme Court leak.

To summarize, the Democrats seem to want unrelenting chaos at home and costly and perilous war abroad.

The GOP had better have a plan in place to take on these storms.